Lucasville legacy looms large over state prison system

Twenty years ago, the calm and quiet of Easter Sunday 1993 was shattered by reports of an uprising at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility at Lucasville. Ten days later, the inmates surrendered, but not before killing corrections officer Robert Vallandingham, nine inmates and causing $40 million worth of damage to the prison.

In the years that followed, Ohio made incredible strides in how it staffed and funded prisons.

A report by then-prisons director Reginald Wilkinson found two areas to concentrate upon: improving the readiness of employees to respond to rioting and enhancing overall prison safety and security.

Today's concern comes, once again, from overcrowding. While not at the 50 percent above capacity levels of two decades ago, the state's prison guard union says the system is probably closer to 30 percent overcapacity. The inmate-to-staff ratio is down, the total number of positions added after the 1993 riots are gone, along with more than 750 others. One in every six Ohio inmates is affiliated with a gang, according to a new survey - which was also a key contributing factor in the Lucasville riots.

One of the biggest lessons of the Lucasville aftermath was what can happen when an overcrowded prison is inadequately staffed. After the riot, the Legislature funded 904 new positions in prisons. As we've previously mentioned, those positions are now gone.

But it's clear that the state's precarious budget situation has driven most of those cuts, but we need the temerity to ask whether we've gone too far in the cuts to the people who work with the inmates on a day-to-day basis.

The representatives and senators of the state must look, once again, at the staffing situation in our prison and take the necessary action to adequately staff them.

Prison officials are quick to point to a reduction in violent infractions and disturbances and also say they are working to focus on assault and harassment incidents, which have increased.

Ultimately, we must continue to heed the lessons learned in the riot at Lucasville. If not, more lives - both inmate and employees - could be at stake.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Email this article

Lucasville legacy looms large over state prison system

Twenty years ago, the calm and quiet of Easter Sunday 1993 was shattered by reports of an uprising at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility at Lucasville.